Quick Release Toilet Mechanism

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a removable bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat to a commode using a knob or bar handle. The knob or bar handle, pivotally mounted to the bolt, can be used to twist or clamp the bolt into engagement with a nut that is inserted through a hole in the toilet. The hole in the toilet can be circular or noncircular. Where the hole is noncircular, the nut has a corresponding noncircular geometric neck so as to prevent it from rotating in the hole. Where the hole is circular, a fastening hinge having a connecting insert can be used to prevent rotation of the nut when it is engaged with the connecting insert. In this way the bolt is directly interlocked with the nut without the use of any tool, thereby making it easy to lock and fasten the seat to the commode.

PRIORITY INFORMATION

This application claims priority to Taiwan Patent Application No. 096201283, filed on Jan. 23, 2007, and China Patent Application No. 200720066709.7, filed on Jan. 26, 2007.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a bolt assembly structure capable of clamping and fastening a part to be locked easily without the help of any tool. More particularly, it refers to a bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Toilet seat assembly typically includes a seat and a cover plate, wherein the seat assembly is pivotally mounted to the commode or toilet base by a pair of pivotally fastening hinges located at the rear of the seat for interlocking with the base. To install the seat assembly on the base, it is common to use a bolt and nut combination to clamp the fastening hinges onto the base. The traditional assembly method requires two sets of tools working concurrently both on the upper end and lower end of the toilet base to assemble the bolts and nuts. Tools are also required for disassembly as well. Because the location of the nut in the lower part of the toilet base is not directly visible from above, the manipulation and use of the tools for installation or disassembly of the seat can be very difficult. In particular, since toilets are often installed near a wall, it is all the more difficult to use tools because the bolts and nuts are not readily accessible. For these reasons, due to the inconvenience of removing or installing a traditional toilet seat assembly, it is a hassle for consumers to remove or install seats for cleaning or repair.

As such, some have endeavored to create locking hardware for the installation and removal of a toilet seat that obviate the need for use of tools. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,365 to Bemis et al. teaches an expanding bolt assembly for joining a toilet seat and cover to a commode without the use of tools. In Bemis, a seat is attached to the commode using a bolt rotated by a hand graspable head portion. The attachment device includes a fixed hinge portion and a stem portion. The nut and bolt assembly is fitted in the stem portion to engage the stem portion with a mounting hole in the commode. The nut and bolt together forces the stem portion of the base to flare outwardly to fill the mounting hole, thereby anchoring the base to the commode. More particularly, the nut includes indexing tabs that match with slits in the stem. The slits and tabs prevent relative motion between the stem and the nut. However, since the stem portion must be made of a plastic material, it may become easily deformed or may even break after being subject to prolonged pressure.

Taiwan Patent Bulletin No. 465333 discloses a “Positioning device for toilet seat assembly,” which comprises an expandable pipe, a rubber liner and a nut. The nut is threaded through a placement hole in a fastening sleeve base and then is joined to the expandable pipe, rubber liner and the nut by threading them together. Such a combination sieve is pushed into the positioning hole of the lip of the toilet. The head of the bolt is adjusted and rotated so that the nut is rotated upwards to pressure the bottom of the rubber liner, and the surrounding areas of the bevel of the nut are used to prop open the space insert leaves formed at the bottom of the expandable pipe, so that the above combination is fastened into the positioning hole of the lip of the toilet, thus achieving the purpose of fastening the toilet. However, since space insert leaves and space protrusions are placed on the expandable pipe and rubber liner to take pressure from the nut, the space insert leaves expand outwards and are stuck under the positioning hole of the lip of the toilet. In terms of fastening, it is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 4,319,365. Not only is it impossible for the insert leaves in the lower half of the expandable pipe to be restored to shape when it becomes deformed after use, but the security of the fastening method by outward expansion is untested. Also, the greatest inconvenience is that it is complex in structure and designs and requires the use of tools and screw locks.

Taiwan Public Bulletin for Patent No. 478343 discloses a “quick positioning structure for a flip-up toilet seat,” which operates by sliding a rubber positioning block under a nut that is threaded through a through hole on a flip-up seat, and then locked by a bolt whose outer edge has a gradient at the bottom of the positioning rubber block. Then a screw driver is used to rotate the bolt, so that the nut is moved up and into the positioning rubber block, thus forcing the positioning rubber block to expand outwards and blocked in a reserved hole, thus achieving the purpose of fastening; similarly, it uses a bolt to press and deform a positioning rubber block to achieve the function of blocking and fastening.

For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a bolt assembly capable of clamping and fastening a toilet seat to be locked easily without the use of any tool.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an easily removable bolt assembly that makes the assembly or disassembly of a toilet seat simple and quick.

To achieve this purpose, the present invention has an easily removable bolt assembly, comprising generally a bolt and a nut to fasten a toilet seat to a toilet base, wherein the bolt has a pivotal knob or bar handle that can be used to turn the bolt to thread it into the nut. The nut has an inner screw hole through its center for receiving the bolt. In an embodiment of the invention, the nut has a protruding square neck portion that can be inserted into a lock hole on the toilet base, such that rotation of the nut in the lock hole is restricted. In this way the bolt on the upper part of the toilet is can be directly interlocked with the nut without the use of any tool, thus making it easy to lock and fasten the toilet seat assembly to the toilet base.

More particularly, to install the toilet seat the bolt is inserted through a hole in a fastening hinge that is connected to the toilet seat. The hole in the fastening hinge is coaxially aligned with the lock hole in the toilet base. The bolt is inserted through the hole in the fastening hinge to engage screw hole in the nut. In one embodiment of the invention, a knob is mounted to the head of the bolt. The knob can be twisted to tighten the engagement between the bolt and the nut in order to fasten the toilet seat to the toilet base. Or, conversely, it can be twisted to loosen the engagement between the bolt and the nut in order to disassemble the seat from the toilet base. Due to the square protruding neck of the nut and the square lock hole on the toilet base, the nut is restricted inside lock hole to prevent it from rotating.

In another embodiment of the present invention, a bar handle pivotally mounted to the bolt head is used for tightening or loosening the engagement between the bolt and the nut. The bar handle has an eccentric pivotally connecting end with a spanning section and a hole therein. The bar handle is pivotally mounted to the bolt by a pin or dowel inserted through the hole in the spanning section of the bar handle and through a hole in the bolt head. To install the assembly, the bolt is inserted through a washer and through a hole in the fastening hinge and through the lock hole on the toilet base to engage the nut. The bar handle can be turned to tighten the bolt so as to clamp the fastening hinge to the toilet base.

In yet another embodiment of the invention, the fastening hinge has a hole with split channel, which allows the bolt to be accommodated such that the toilet seat can be installed or removed without disassembling the bolt assembly.

In other embodiments of the invention are, the lock hole on the toilet base is round. The fastening hinge has a connecting insert that protrudes from its bottom side for insertion into the lock hole. The connecting insert has a clamp hole that extends through the connecting insert to form a split opening with two flat sides. The connecting insert is inserted into the lock hole to engage with the nut. Correspondingly, the nut has a neck with two flat sides. When the nut is inserted into the clamp hole, the flat sides on the nut mate with the flat sides in the slit opening of the connecting insert, such that the nut is prevented from rotating. The bolt is then inserted through the clamp hole and into the nut. The nut and the fastening hinge are engaged together and will not rotate inside the round lock hole in the toilet base. Thus the bolt and nut together function to clamp and fasten the toilet seat fastening hinge to the toilet base.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a three dimensional sketch of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a three dimensional exploded sketch of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a three dimensional exploded sketch of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a combined partial cross section view of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a partial cross section sketch of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a partial cross section sketch of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a three dimensional sketch of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a three dimensional exploded sketch of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a partial cross section sketch of the movements in second embodiment of the present invention

FIG. 10 is a three dimensional sketch of the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a three dimensional sketch of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a three dimensional sketch of the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIGS. 1˜4, the present invention relates to an easily removable bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat. As shown in FIG. 1, a typical toilet is comprised of a toilet seat 30 mounted to a commode or toilet base 40 by a pair of fastening hinges 31 located on the rear of seat assembly 30.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, bolt assembly A is used to mount the seat assembly 30 to the toilet base 40. More particularly, bolt 10 has a bolt head 11 and a shaft that connects to nut 20. The bolt head 11 has a round head portion 111 with two pivot ears 112, each pivot ear 112 having a hole 1120 as shown in FIG. 3. Bolt head 11 receives knob 110, which has a sleeve portion and tab portion. The sleeve portion of knob 110 fits between pivot ears 112 and is connected to bolt head 11 by a fastening dowel or pin inserted through holes 1120, thus allowing knob 110 to be pivotally connected to bolt 10.

As further illustrated in FIG. 3, bolt 10 passes through hole 310 in fastening hinge 31. Fastening hinge 31 is coaxially aligned with lock hole 41 in the toilet base 40. As shown in both FIGS. 2 and 3, in a first embodiment lock hole 41 is square shaped to accommodate nut 20. Nut 20 has domed head 22 with a square protruding neck 23 and a threaded hole 21. Nut 20 also has a flat side with a larger diameter presses up against the outside of lock holes 41 when the bolt 10 and nut 20 are assembled. In the present embodiment, the protruding neck 23 and lock hole 41 are square in shape so that rotation of nut 20 in lock hole 41 is restricted. Though protruding neck 23 of nut 20 functions to restrict rotation in square lock hole 41, its shape is not limited to a square only. Triangles, polygons, ovals and various irregular geometric shapes can all serve the same function.

Accordingly, to install toilet seat 30, bolt 10 passes through hole 310 in fastening hinge 31 to engage threaded hole 21 in nut 20. As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, knob 110 can be turned up and twisted to tighten the engagement between bolt 10 and nut 20 in order to fasten seat 30 to toilet base 40. Or, conversely, knob 110 can be twisted to loosen the engagement between bolt 10 and nut 20 in order to disassemble seat 30 from toilet base 40. When nut 20 is inserted through lock hole 41 of toilet base 40, bolt 10 is applied downward to engage nut 20 through holes 310 on fastener hinge 31 of toilet seat 30. Due to the square protruding neck 23 of nut 20 and the square lock hole 41 on toilet base 40, nut 20 is restricted inside lock hole 41 to prevent it from rotating. Also, flat end 22 is pressed against the outside of lock hole 41, such that bolt 10 and nut 20 function to clamp fastener hinge 31 on toilet seat 30 to toilet base 40.

FIGS. 7˜9 show a second embodiment of the present invention. In the second embodiment, bolt assembly A′ is comprised of a bar handle 113, bolt 10 a, washer 114, and nut 20. Bar handle 113 has an eccentric pivotally connecting end 1130 with a spanning section 11 a and a hole therein as shown in FIG. 8. Bar handle 113 can be fastened to bolt 10 a by mounting connecting end 1130 onto the head of bolt 10 a with a pin or dowel as shown. Bolt 10 a is passed through washer 114, hole 310 of fastening hinge 31, and lock hole 41 to engage nut 20. As shown in FIG. 9, bar handle 114 can be turned to tighten bolt 10 a so as to clamp fastening hinge 31 to toilet base 40.

A third embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 10, wherein fastening hinge 31 a has hole 310 with split channel 311. Split channel 311 allows bolt 10 a to be accommodated such that toilet seat assembly 10 can be installed or removed without disassembling bolt assembly A′.

The fourth and fifth embodiments of the present invention are shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 12, respectively. In both embodiments, lock hole 41 a on the toilet base is round. Fastening hinge 31 b has a connecting insert 312 for insertion into lock hole 41 a. Connecting insert 312, which protrudes from the bottom of fastening hinge 31 b, has clamp hole 313 that extends through connecting insert 312 to form split opening 3120 with two flat sides as shown in FIG. 11. Insert connecting end 312 is inserted into lock hole 41 a to engage with nut 20 a. Correspondingly, nut 20 a has neck 23 a with two flat sides 230. When nut 20 a is inserted into clamp hole 313, the flat sides 230 on neck 23 a mate with the flat sides in split opening 3120, such that nut 20 a is prevented from rotating within insert connecting end 312. Bolt 10 or 10 a is then inserted through clamp hole 313 and into hole 21 in nut 20 a. Nut 20 a and fastening hinge 31 b are engaged together and will not rotate inside round lock hole 41 a. Thus bolt 10 and nut 20 a together clamp and fasten toilet seat fastening hinge 31 b to toilet base 40. 

1. A removable bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat assembly, said bolt assembly comprising: a bolt, a nut, and a pivotal knob; said knob is pivotally mounted to said bolt; whereby said knob can be used to turn said bolt to engage with said nut, such that said bolt assembly clamps said toilet seat assembly to a toilet base.
 2. The removable bolt assembly of claim 1, wherein said bolt is comprised of a bolt head and a shaft; said bolt head having at least one pivot ear thereon; and said pivot ear having a hole therein.
 3. The removable bolt assembly of claim 1, wherein said knob has a sleeve portion and a tab portion.
 4. The removable bolt assembly of claim 1, wherein said nut has a noncircular geometric neck with a threaded hole therein for receiving said bolt.
 5. The removable bolt assembly of claims 4, wherein said nut has a dome head with a flat side; said neck of said nut protrudes from said flat side of said dome head; said neck of said nut is smaller than said dome head; whereby said neck of said nut is capable of fitting in a hole in a toilet base such that said flat side of said dome head is pressed against a surface of said toilet base.
 6. The removable bolt assembly of claim 1, wherein: said bolt has a bolt head with at least one pivot ear thereon, said pivot ear having a hole therein; said knob has a sleeve portion and a tab portion; whereby said knob is pivotally connected to said bolt by a pin inserted through said hole in said pivot ear and through said sleeve of said knob; whereby said knob is pivotally connected to said bolt such that said tab portion of said knob can be turned to cause rotation of said bolt.
 7. The removable bolt assembly of claim 1, said bolt assembly further comprising: a fastening hinge mounted to said toilet seat assembly; said fastening hinge having a hole therein; said hole in said fastening hinge having a split channel therein; said hole in said fastening hinge being aligned with a hole in said toilet base; whereby said bolt assembly passes through said hole in said fastening hinge and through said hole in said toilet base; whereby said split channel in said fastening hinge allows said fastening hinge to be disengaged from said bolt without disassembling said bolt and said nut, such that said toilet seat assembly can be installed or removed from said toilet base without disassembling said bolt assembly.
 8. A removable bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat assembly, said bolt assembly comprising: a bolt, a nut, and a bar handle; said bar handle is pivotally mounted to said bolt; whereby said bar handle can be used to turn said bolt to engage with said nut, such that said bolt assembly clamps said toilet seat assembly to a toilet base.
 9. The removable bolt assembly of claim 8, said bolt assembly further comprising a washer; whereby said bolt is inserted through said washer for mounting said toilet seat assembly to said toilet base.
 10. The removable bolt assembly of claim 8, wherein: said bolt is comprised of a bolt head and a shaft; said bolt head having a hole therein for receiving a pin to connect said bolt to said bar handle.
 11. The removable bolt assembly of claim 10, wherein: said bar handle has an eccentric pivotally connecting end with a spanning section and a hole therein; whereby said bar handle can be fastened to said bolt by mounting said eccentric pivotally connecting end on said bolt head by a pin inserted through said hole in said bolt head and through said hole in said spanning section of said bar handle.
 12. A removable bolt assembly for fastening a toilet seat assembly, said bolt assembly comprising: a bolt, a nut, and a fastening hinge; said fastening hinge mounted to said toilet seat assembly; said fastening hinge having a hole therein, said hole aligned with a hole in a toilet base; said hole in said fastening hinge having a split channel therein; said bolt inserting through said hole in said fastening hinge and through said hole in said toilet base; whereby said split channel in said fastening hinge allows said fastening hinge to be disengaged from said bolt without disassembling said bolt and said nut, such that said toilet seat assembly can be installed or removed from said toilet base without disassembling said bolt assembly.
 13. The removable bolt assembly of claim 12, wherein said fastening hinge has a top side and a bottom side; said fastening hinge having a connecting insert that protrudes from said bottom side; said connecting insert has hole that forms a split opening in said connecting insert with at least one flat side; whereby said connecting insert is capable of inserting into a hole in said toilet base; whereby said connecting insert is capable of receiving said nut, said nut having a neck with at least one flat side; whereby said flat side of said nut mates with said flat side in said split opening of said connecting insert, such that said nut is prevented from rotating within said connecting insert. 